We had run these trails a few times in our preparation for the race, and those runs were quite tough for me… I generally just had very heavy legs and thought the trails were way too technical to find a groove. But I went into the race with no expectations for how the trails would feel. Things can be different with mostly rested legs and, regardless, race day always hits different.
Thank you so much to the Trail Animals Running Club (TARC) and Race Director Patrick Caron for putting on such a fantastic event, yet again (the last race I did with them was Stone Cat). Aid stations were full, volunteers were attentive, and the trails were clearly marked in a super complicated trail network. I am also very thankful for the low race entry fee and the casual, local feel of the event that encourages athletes to take risks and explore their limits with support and without judgement.
We woke up around 3:30am on race morning. I put on my green shorts and Courtney shirt (with the Western States, Hardrock, and UTMB course profiles on it). I had some slices of toast thinly spread with almond butter and drank some Raspberry Lemonade Skratch and water. I had packed everything the night before, so then I just rolled out a little, did some hip and core mobility/activation exercises, and spun on the bike for 5 minutes to loosen up.
It was about a 45 minute drive, and since I didn’t plan on bringing my phone or listening to music during the race I played pump-up music in the car, including two times through Poker Face but only once through the IngebritZ pre-Olympics song “Ingen gjør det bedre”. I also played Mr. Saxobeat but it was a little too upbeat for me so I skipped to the next song before it was over. Ironically, this was the song that ended up playing on repeat through my head the entire race!
The course was two short loops around a corn field and then three 10ish-mile loops through the woods, meaning we would pass the start line at two significant times. We had a little self-made aid station with all our gels and hydration (I also brought an extra pair of shoes in case of any lower leg issues if I wanted something cushier with a higher drop than what I was wearing). The weather was nice, mid-60s maybe and partly cloudy. Quite humid though, but we were used to that after a summer in Boston. A short course preview, a TARC howl (we literally did an “awoooo”), starting the watch (I left it on the “clock” face the whole time), and we were off!
I had one goal for this race: run the whole thing. In the back of my head, I also had the idea I’d try to negative split it, but that went out the window the second I started running and decided a better tactic would be to run faster on the flatter, less technical sections and downhills and relax on the uphills. If I were to do this again, I’d race it the same way. This freed me to go out and get into it. I knew Kevin was planning to really go out hard and see how long he could hold on, so that empowered me a bit as well, but I also tried not to do anything too stupid with pacing.
In the first two miles or so a lot of people passed me, including five women and a large number of men. I used to get really anxious when people passed me, but I’ve been working on it and these runners were just Phish Food for later. I tuned into my effort, trying to keep it around a 5-6/10. We hadn’t done really any tempo running in this build, so it was refreshing to find that comfortably uncomfortable state and sit in it. In fact, my longest run since the MUC 50k in March was a 14-mile trail run two weeks before this race. I tried not to think to hard about how much farther we had to run and instead stay in the present, trust my training, and be thankful that the only pain in my legs was that of the glutes and hamstrings working!
The trails were relatively technical compared to the ones in California. I thought about a video of Kilian I’d seen a few days prior in which he looked like he was running over the trail rather than picking his way around or through it. I also thought about a quote I’d seen from Hunter Woodhall about running “like a rock skipping on water.” There were lots of roots and some rocks, and I saw a number of people trip and fall. I tried to really channel these thoughts on the downhills, and though they were maybe 20 seconds long at most, the time and mental energy saved from flowing down adds up!
Midway through the first loop I found myself on the heels of another female runner, and I let them pace me for probably about an hour. Eventually I passed on a downhill, and I didn’t see them again. I was feeling pretty good coming into the start/finish aid station to go on the second loop. I scooped up my fuel and took my bottle of Skratch. The very beginning of the second loop felt great, and overall the second loop was my best loop of the day. Mr. Saxobeat was going through my head. I was feeling a little nauseous so I laid off the fuel for about 30 minutes, I peed, and as soon as I felt a little better I downed more gel. I’d rather be fueled and nauseous than unfueled and not nauseous. I worked through a rough spot a few miles into this loop as well, thinking about Kevin saying that either things will get better or they won’t, but you have to keep moving to find out. Slowing down is okay as a temporary recoup. I listened to the grasshoppers cheering me on. Eventually things got better and I found another few runners to tail for a bit, using each as a pacer before passing them. In a lonely spot, I was thinking about how much I like trails, trail running, and was so lucky to have this racing opportunity.
The third loop was the most challenging but also the most dream-like. I had put contacts in, which I never do, and I think I need a new prescription haha. My left shoe was also wet with sweat and made a squish noise every single step! I was running pretty alone and moving into that uncomfortably uncomfortable zone, pretty much in a constant state of uncertainty. I kept repeating to myself that I have good fatigue resistance, everyone fades, but I will fade the least, my only goal is to run the whole race. I glanced at my watch and realized I’d been running for 4.5 hours basically non-stop, which was insane when I thought too hard about it, so I stayed present, touched some trees, stayed focused on the trail below instead. I took a spill, flying forward with hands outstretched, while thinking about the roots I was trying to run over, and my heart zipped up into my throat for a few seconds. Patience. I walked a few steps (ehhh… doesn’t count). I thought about Courtney doing these insane 100-mile races and just continuing on. Some of the next few hills were very short but very steep, and we had done hill repeats on one of them, so I got some confidence from that. I also thought of how many stadiums I’d done on absolutely exhausted legs and how this really was pretty similar. Wow, I thought of a lot of things during this race!
With about 20 minutes left I forced down a last gel (had to walk a few steps for that) and then picked up the pace. I passed one last person and emerged from the woods for a last lap around the cornfield. My parents and sister had decided to come out to cheer (with the classic “go, Serena, go!”), and they really surprised me since they don’t usually come to these things. I got a good boost of energy for the last half-mile, which was really fun!
Overall, I felt like I did a better job mentally during this race than I had in past races, as is maybe evident from the many things written above. I thought I was running faster than my watch says, but maybe the technical trails made it feel that way, plus Kevin keeps telling me numbers don’t matter. I did a good job running my own race and not getting caught up in things on the first lap, which resulted in me passing people (25th overall to 12th overall from the second mile to the finish) and not getting passed. I hit my primary goal of running the whole race. I wouldn’t have done anything differently during the race. Maybe bring ice in a cooler for our self-aid station. Some more tempo running in training could have helped, but the timing just wasn’t right for that this time around. I’m sure this race was a big fitness boost, and I’m excited for the next few weeks to get into some tempo in preparation for R2R2R in the Grand Canyon at the beginning of October!
Because it doesn’t matter but I’m competitive… I placed 1st in age group (of 8 starters), 3rd female overall (of 48 starters), and 12th overall (of 122 starters).
Land acknowledgement from the TARC Fall Classic website: “The TARC Fall Classic is held on land that was originally called Musketaquid, an Algonquin word for “grassy plain,” and was home to the Musketaquid Indians, the original stewards of this territory.”